Cinderella (Hyperion Heights)
Ella, better known as Cinderella, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She débuts in the first episode of the seventh season. She is portrayed by starring cast member Dania Ramirez, and co-star Alejandra Pérez. She is the original counterpart of Jacinda Vidrio. Cinderella is based on the titular character from the fairytale, "Cinderella", and the Disney film, Cinderella. History The then fourteen-year-old Anastasia dies trying to save Ella after she has fallen through ice into a lake and Marcus is only able to grab one of them in time, causing Rapunzel to blame her husband, while Ella blames herself. Later on, Lady Tremaine and a prince conspire to murder Ella's father, and following his death Ella is stripped of her old life and forced to be a maid in her stepmother's manor, where she gains the nickname "Cinderella". Not knowing about Tremaine's involvement in her father's death, Cinderella believes the prince to be solely responsible and makes plans to attend an upcoming ball in order to kill him. On her way there in a chariot, she is thrown from her seat after narrowly missing a man on a motorcycle. However, Cinderella's horse Felipe becomes frightened and causes her to be thrown from her seat, knocking her into a field of hyacinths. She is later woken up by the stranger, Henry, who offers her a ride to the ball. As he is giving her a demonstration on how to operate the motorcycle, she asks him about how her story ends, seeing as he somehow knows about it. Henry explains that the prince finds the glass slipper she leaves behind at the ball and uses it to prove she is the owner, but Cinderella scoffs at this, considering many women have the same foot size as her. During the conversation, she pockets Henry's dagger without him noticing. Cinderella plays along by distracting him and concluding the story needs a twist before punching him in the face and speeding away on his motorcycle. Cinderella makes it to the ball, but Henry does as well, and he pulls her into a dance to confront her for stealing his dagger. When Henry correctly guesses she didn't come to woo a prince, Cinderella reveals her reasons for wanting the prince dead. Henry asks her to consider what her fate will be after she is caught for murder, but she is resigned to it, believing she has no happy ending. He suggests that their meeting was a sign there is and tells her about his home where she can start over. Cinderella refuses, insisting that she cannot let this grudge go. She succeeds in charming the prince, but once she is alone with him, she pulls out the dagger on him. She has a change of heart at the last moment saying she can't do it, only for her stepmother to stab the prince in the back, killing him instantly. Tremaine reveals she to take matters into her own hands to ensure the prince, who she had no use for after he rejected Drizella as his consort, was out of the line of succession so the prince's younger brother can inherit and marry Drizella. After Tremaine shouts for the guards to capture her for assassinating the prince, Cinderella is urged by Henry to take his bike and wait for him where they first met so they can leave together for his home. While Henry fights one guard, Cinderella parries with another until she manages to flee the castle. Rushing back to the site of her and Henry's first meeting, Cinderella calls out for him as she is attacked by a guard sent to apprehend her for the prince's murder. She fights him off, only to be seized by another guard, but luckily, Tiana saves her. Tiana introduces herself as a leader of a Resistance working to end Tremaine's tyranny, but an embittered Cinderella wonders where Tiana was when her stepmother had her father killed and forced her to be a maid. Tiana apologizes for everything she's been through and suggests she join her cause as she has impressive fighting skills. Cinderella is uninterested until Tiana tells her about Tremaine's role in her father's death and how she can make a difference in taking down Tremaine before she ruins more people's lives. She then asks Tiana to hop on the motorcycle, and before she drives off with her new friend, she tosses away one of her glass slippers as a sign for Henry to come find her. At the Resistance camp, Cinderella changes into battle gear and receives boots from a devout member named Jeremiah. Tiana, after learning Tremaine is moving weapons and magic from the King's vault to her manor, shows her a drawing of a box that Tremaine has which she believes is a weapon, but Cinderella feigns ignorance about it, despite knowing it is a coffin housing Anastasia's body. Henry shows up, having found her because of her slipper, and introduces her to his mother Regina. Cinderella also meets his other companion, a pirate named Captain Hook. As Tiana goes over the plans for storming Tremaine's manor with two groups of Resistance members, Cinderella agrees to lead one of the groups. That night, she sneaks into her stepmother's manor to confront Tremaine about Anastasia's coffin. Cinderella, realizing Tremaine is not done making her pay for her daughter's death, asks her to get it over with and to not hurt her friends. Tremaine admits she still needs something from her before her revenge goes full circle, and then makes her look into the coffin. Cinderella is surprised to see Anastasia's perfectly preserved body, which Tremaine explains is necessary until Cinderella gives her Henry's pure heart to revive her stepsister. Cinderella refuses, but Tremaine enchants her hand with a heart-ripping ability and warns her to follow orders or everyone in the Resistance will die. Unable to bring herself to take Henry's heart, Cinderella prepares to rip out Jeremiah's heart, believing he would be willing to die for Resistance. However, Regina stops her and removes the enchantment on her hand, insisting the sacrifice of one person to save others is never okay. The next day, a guilt-ridden Cinderella attempts to leave on her own. She confesses to Regina about her painful past, while Regina encourages her to forgive herself for Anastasia's death and to start making decisions for herself instead of someone else. As she follows Regina's advice, Cinderella rejoins Tiana and the others, redubbing herself "just Ella", before revealing Tremaine has set a trap for them in the manor, which Regina confirms with a plausible lie about using her magic mirror to spy on the woman. Henry notices something off with Ella, although she quips back that it's good they'll have some time to talk. While Henry is fixing his motorcycle, he shows Ella a torque wrench. The pair's quiet moment is interrupted by a group of bandits, whom they fight off together. When one bandit is left behind and begins fleeing, Ella goes to chase after him. Later in the woods, Ella has an intense swordfight with Henry as she playfully taunts him about not being able to keep up with her even though he was taught by a pirate. She then grabs his arm and jabbing him in his side as a reminder to him that the king's men won't play fair in battle either. Ella swings her sword at him, but she ends up spinning after Henry dodges her move and catches her in his arms. Locking eyes, the two exchange flirty banter before they almost share a kiss, except Ella moves away at the last moment. Ella apologizes, only able to tell him that "it's complicated", but when Henry asks about this, she shushes him upon hearing someone nearby. Alice shows up, and asks for their help finding her father Hook. Ella and Henry bring her to him, but the reunion goes badly, with the poison in Hook's heart growing worse after Alice tries to hug him. As a distraught Alice runs away, the couple follow her through a portal to New Wonderland. Upon arrival to this realm, Ella leads Henry towards a cottage she believes Alice went into, only for them to be caught in a net trap. Much to Ella's bemusement, Henry finds the situation funny as he recalls how his grandpa caught his grandma in a similar trap after she hit him with a rock. Ella grabs Henry's sword, but the blade accidentally slices the rope, freeing them and sending them tumbling. Henry maintains high hopes that Alice and her father will be together again and shares his grandparents' famous motto, "I will always find you". However, Ella thinks he is a bit naive as he comes from a place where true love prevails, while her world is one of broken promises. Inside a cottage, Ella finds the Infinite Maze entrance, which makes Henry realize she is in Wonderland for other reasons. She admits she means to track down her mother Cecelia, whose abandonment broke her father's heart and she wishes to find out her reasons for leaving. After downing a shrinking potion, she rushes into the maze and stumbles into a tea party, where Alice is hiding. When Ella spots her mother's locket on a teapot, Alice reveals Cecelia was killed by a Jabberwock in New Wonderland, but she had originally left her family because she had the curse of the poisoned heart. Ella also learns Alice was misled by Drizella into believing she was shielded from Hook's curse. As she realizes Henry is in danger, her mother's locket starts to glow, to which she makes it in time to save him from her stepsister, who is sent home when Alice dumps a looking glass on her. Seeing both pendants glowing in sync, Ella reciprocates Henry's feelings for her by kissing him. The pair return to a recovering Hook and give him a knight chess piece from Alice, who has hopes they can be together after he finds a cure. After Henry is reunited with his old friend Jack, he introduces him to Ella. As Henry seeks adventure by venturing into a cave to slay a golden dragon, Ella and Hook accompany him there. Ella gives Henry a kiss for good luck before they all head further in, only to find a scrounger freeloading on wine that the beast left behind after it migrated elsewhere. Ella scolds the man for drinking wine that the dragon pilfered from local villagers and then marches him out of the cave, while Henry shares with Hook his disappointment over not being able to live out a tale of heroism so he can impress Ella when he proposes to her. To give Henry what he wants, Hook persuades Black Beard to put on a grand ruse so Henry can obtain a rare ring for Ella, however, Black Beard accidentally spills the beans at the last minute. Despite this, Henry manages to get a real dose of danger and excitement by aiding in stopping a magical storm, helping him to realize he doesn't need to make a name as a gallant figurehead in order to be worthy enough for his future bride. He later brings Ella to a lake, where he tells her that his life probably will never be a fairytale and he's still unsure of what will happen in his future, but one leap of faith he is willing to take is to build a home with her. Taking out a thin banded ring, Henry professes that while he cannot be a person of prestige for her, he can offer her his heart. Ella then whispers, asking him if she can say yes yet, and as she laughs at his approving response, she agrees to marry him. After Henry slips the ring on her, he and Ella kiss. Eventually, Ella and Henry get married and have a daughter named Lucy. Drizella, while giving the heroes a prophecy about a curse she will cast in eight years' time, is transformed into a statue with Tremaine's help. Sometime later, Ella joins her husband and baby daughter at a camp in the woods, with Regina, Hook, and Zelena too, as Alice spies on them from a distance.File:714SpyingTheGroup.png As Tiana's coronation ceremony draws near, Ella and Regina help prepare in the dressing room, but they are interrupted by Dr. Facilier, who warns the future Queen of a fearsome beast that will soon threaten her kingdom and, as proof, he directs her into checking the Fairy Docks at the southern edge of the bayou. After killing the beast, at the cost of Tiana losing her ally Naveen to Facilier, Ella encourages her friend to continue believing in a way to save Naveen. Before going out to greet her subjects, Tiana insists that her mother Eudora, Ella, Henry, and Regina come with her because she trusts them to help her protect her people. A little later after this, Ella and Henry sit under a pavilion in Queen Tiana's castle courtyard as they fawn over their baby daughter, while Hook sadly watches them, reminded of his own daughter whom he is separated from. As Henry passes Lucy into his wife's arms, the couple is startled by the appearance of an open portal as Regina's sister Zelena comes through. A little later, Ella and Henry continue looking after Lucy while Zelena and Regina get into an argument in the courtyard. Sometime after Zelena and her daughter Robin stay in the New Enchanted Forest, Ella joins her husband, baby Lucy, Regina, Zelena, and Hook by a campfire in the woods, where, from a distance, Alice observes them through her spyglass.File:714SpyingTheGroup.png Years later, Ella is present at Lucy's eighth birthday celebration, but before the girl can blow out her cake candles, Gothel arrives with seven witches to free Drizella before whisking her away to help her enact the curse. Ella and Henry come up with a plan to save everyone if the curse cannot be stopped, in which Henry and Lucy will go to the Land Without Magic before the curse arrives and use the storybook to help their people believe again. However, the plan goes awry when Henry is kidnapped by Gothel and the witches, and Lucy returns to her mother with Tiger Lily to tell her what happened. Although it is tempting to go rescue Henry right away, Ella realizes it's a trap meant to distract them from the curse. Instead, Lucy stays behind with Tiana at the castle as Regina and Zelena confront Drizella at a summoning altar, during which Ella, Hook, and Jack take some of the other witches as hostages. While Regina manages to gain the curse scroll, Drizella reveals she intended for Regina to cast the curse and unveils a sickly Henry, whose heart she cursed. Ella watches with dismay as Regina's magic is unable to heal him, to which Drizella explains the only cure is if he goes to a Land Without Magic, and that she intended for Regina to cast it as the last curse ingredient is someone who already cast the curse by crushing the heart of the thing she loved most. Regina consents to Drizella's demands, and as the curse smoke spreads, Ella wonders how she will be able to find her daughter in the new realm they will be in if she can't remember her. Hook then gives her a white elephant figurine, which will keep her and Lucy's familial bond intact, ensuring they will be together in their new lives. }} Family ---- Trivia |-|Character Notes= Etymology *It was her stepmother who named her "Cinder-ella". Character Notes *According to Henry, hyacinths are Cinderella's lucky flowers. |-|Production Notes= Production Notes *The casting call describes her as "a 'strong-willed, independent woman with a no-nonsense sensibility and a warm heart at her core'. Life hasn’t always been kind to her, but she is 'sharp and resourceful' and never gives up on herself — or those she believes in".http://tvline.com/2017/06/29/flash-season-4-spoilers-barry-iris-time-jump/ *According to Dania Ramirez, Cinderella "is edgy and grounded and raw and a badass". She also added that "she's not this damsel in distress. Meeting the prince was not the end of her night, that was actually the beginning".http://www.tvguide.com/news/once-upon-a-time-edgy-raw-version-cinderella/ |-|Set Notes= Set Dressing *Among the numerous fairytale illustrations pinned to the wall in Henry's room are two copies of an illustration by the artist and book illustrator Helen Stratton from a 1903 edition of Grimms' Fairy Tales. The image depicts a scene from the "Cinderella" fairytale, in which a bird gives the titular character a beautiful ball gown. One image is pinned next to Henry's doorFile:102HenryLeaves.png while another copy is among the images adorning the wall next to Henry's bed.File:120HenrysRoom.png **An engravingFile:122SomethingsComing.png by the nineteenth century French artist Gustave Doré also appears. It is from Les Contes de Perrault, an 1867 edition of the seventeenth century French author Charles Perrault's fairy tales. It depicts a scene from "Cinderella", where the prince lets the titular character try on the glass slipper. |-|Other Notes= Other Notes *Unlike most versions of Cinderella whose mother died and gained the wicked step-family, this one never knew her biological father and her mother later married another man with children. Appearances See also *Cinderella's Chariot *Glass Slippers (Hyperion Heights) References }} fr:Cendrillon nl:Assepoester (Hyperion Heights) Category:Female Characters Category:Season Seven Characters Category:Once Upon a Time Characters